China rolls out policies to create jobs amid slowing economy
Measures include tax breaks and subsidies to companies hiring workers
China’s economic slowdown has prompted Premier Li Keqiang to take steps to support job creation, backing up a pledge he made last month.
Pressure on employment is rising and China’s policies must become more proactive, according to a government statement after a State Council meeting led by Li on Tuesday.
The cabinet announced measures including more tax breaks and subsidies to some enterprises that hire.
Li said last month that the nation would roll out more measures to support growth if employment was at risk.
The country’s booming service industries have helped generate jobs to offset the impact of a manufacturing slowdown, but policy makers are showing concern that the weakening will spread, cutting banks’ reserve requirements by 1 percentage point earlier this week.
“Through multiple measures, we will ensure the achievement of the full-year target,” the statement said.
The government has a goal of creating 10 million urban jobs in 2015. It exceeded the same target last year by 3.2 million.
The government will also support technical professionals and rural residents in starting their own businesses, according to the statement.
Because employment is a lagging indicator compared with industrial output or investment, policy makers seek to avoid acting too late before jobs are eliminated.
China’s labour market is difficult to gauge because the government does not regularly publish a survey-based unemployment rate comparable to one in the US and the official jobless rate for registered residents barely fluctuates.
The ratio of jobs available to job seekers dropped to 1.12 in the first quarter from 1.15 in the October-December period, indicating the labour market is getting slightly weaker, according to a statement from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Monday.
China’s economy grew 7 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier, the slowest pace since 2009.
